


Something Greater than a Weapon

by SingingInTheRaiin



Series: Worth the Wait [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Hijinks, Rory and Rose are BFFs, and all other kinds of jinks, and lowjinks, kind of a blind date i guess, no cat fights between River and Rose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 02:31:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20686043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: Rose and the Doctor are awkwardly dancing around each other. Rory and Amy have seen The Parent Trap. There's only one solution here.(It's a sequel but I think it can also be read as a oneshot. All you really need to know is that Rose waited with Rory while he was guarding the Pandorica)





	Something Greater than a Weapon

Amy always thought that she’d be the jealous sort. How could she not be when she was married to such a great guy? And yet here she was, watching her husband spend so much time with a beautiful young woman, and there wasn’t an ounce of jealousy in Amy’s heart. It helped that said beautiful woman only had eyes for the resident Time Lord. And that Amy trusted her husband completely. 

She’d once asked Rory, not out of jealousy, but curiosity, why he spent so much time with Rose. Rory had explained that Rose was his best friend, the same way the Doctor was Amy’s. And then, even though Amy didn’t know the specific details, she understood. She knew that someone like the Doctor needed people, and since Rose clearly wasn’t human, she must be the same way. Besides, Rory had mentioned that Rose had kept him company for over half of his waiting, and had helped defend the Pandorica from every threat. So Amy accepted that Rose was an important person to Rory, and started slowly making her own attempts to get to know the other woman. And she found that Rose was an easily likeable person. She could understand why Rory had befriended her. 

It seemed that there was someone else on the ship who hadn’t gotten the memo, though. As Amy cooked breakfast (both the Doctor and Rose were indefinitely banned from being allowed to cook after various Incidents, and Amy had generously given Rory a break from it for the day), she could see out of the corner of her eye as Rose and Rory sat next to each other at the table, talking in soft voices and laughing about who-knows-what.

When Amy looked across the room, she could see the Doctor standing over by the end of the counter, pacing back and forth, a toaster in one hand and his sonic screwdriver in the other. But Amy hadn’t heard the whirring of the screwdriver in at least fifteen minutes, and she could see the way the Doctor’s eyes were laser focused on the laughing blondes. 

It all made perfect sense, and yet Amy couldn’t help feeling exasperated by just how dumb the Doctor was, for a supposed genius. Everytime Rose looked at the Doctor, her eyes sparkled, and her entire being seemed to just glow with happiness. It was definitely not the way that Rose looked at anyone else, including Rory. But for some reason, the idiot Time Lord was jealous anyways.

It wasn’t until they’d all sat around the table to eat, and the Doctor and Rose’s hands lightly brushed together, causing Rose’s cheeks to pinken, that Amy was struck with a realization. The Doctor and Rose still weren’t together!

She let out a giant sigh of frustration, and the other three all looked at her curiously. “Oh you’re such idiots!”

The Doctor blinked once. “Beg your pardon?” came from him at the same time that Rose asked, “Is everything okay, Amy?”

Amy just shook her head. “Oh, don’t talk to me.” She didn’t understand how two such intelligent people could be so utterly daft. She thought back to the day that they’d picked Rose up. Her and the Doctor had walked back onto the TARDIS hand in hand, and they’d certainly had the look of a couple who’d just had an intense snog. So what the hell had happened?

As soon as they finished eating, Amy grabbed Rory’s hand to forcibly drag him back to their room, and she slammed the door shut behind them. She turned to look at her husband, hand on her hips. “What’s up with the Doctor and Rose?”

Immediate understanding washed over Rory’s face. “I’m surprised that it’s taken you this long to catch on. I tried to ask Rose about it, but she just said that this is how they’ve always been.” 

Amy crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh geez. Rory, she waited twelve hundred years for him, and they’re acting like complete morons!”

There was a sad look on Rory’s face. “Longer, actually. She told me that by the time she ended up finding me, she’d already been traveling around for ‘a while’. She never gave me an exact number, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s even older than he is.”

Amy blinked a couple of times. “Rory, have you realized that you’re older than the Doctor?”

He frowned, and then shrugged one shoulder. “Eh, I don’t know. I mean, I have the memories from that time, but it wasn’t this body physically that was around for all that. So does that count?”

“I don’t know, I’m not exactly an expert on this stuff.”

They both thought about it for a moment, and then shook their heads at the same time. “Anyways, this isn’t about me,” Rory reminded her. “This is about Rose and the Doctor being too stubborn for their own goods.”

There was a wary look on Rory’s face, and Amy just knew that it was because there had to be a mischievous gleam in her eyes. “Rory, do you remember that American film, The Parent Trap?”

Rory shook his head. Not because he hadn’t seen the film, but because he knew exactly what his wife was thinking, and he knew that she was going to drag him into the madness. Although… he thought of the sad look that sometimes appeared in Rose’s eyes before she could hide it, mostly when she was looking at the Doctor, and he decided that it was his duty to help her, after everything that she’d done for him.

,,,

The plan was to divide and conquer. Rory was responsible for Rose, while Amy was responsible for the Doctor. This whole thing felt like madness, but if it would banish the tension from the TARDIS, then it was worth it. 

The TARDIS led Rory to the studio that had appeared for Rose, where she’d moved all of her paintings into. Rory had seen some of them during their waiting time, watching with awe as Rose was able to capture such beauty onto her canvases. Others were new to him, and he took a moment to look at the ones hanging on the wall. He paused in front of one of the largest paintings. It showed a small crowd of people, including the Doctor and Rose. Some of the other figures had very questionable clothing choices- was that one wearing celery? and just how long was that scarf? Probably the strangest part was that the Doctor was in the middle of the group, while Rose was standing in the front with a tall ginger man. Were these old friends of theirs? There was a small gold plaque just beneath the painting that simply said ‘Love Eternal’. 

“Oh, I’m surprised that the TARDIS would let you see that one?” 

Rory glanced back at Rose. “Why? Who are they?” He knew about several of the other companions that the Doctor had traveled with, though none of the people in the painting matched how he’d imagined them based on Rose’s descriptions of them. 

Rose smiled, and had the same look in her eyes that seemed to be always reserved for the Doctor. “How many people do you see in that painting?”

Now Rory’s curiosity was really piqued. Whenever Rose answered a question with another question, she was leading up to something important. He took a moment to count them up before answering. “Uh, twenty-seven, including you and the Doctor.” 

Rose laughed as she shook her head. “Actually, it’s just two, including me and the Doctor.” She had such a fond look as she studied her own painting. “I don’t know if you remember when I told you about this, but Time Lords can do this little thing to cheat death. It’s called regeneration. It means that they get a whole new body, different down to the cells, and a new personality. But all the same memories and morals and feelings.” She pointed to three men standing next to the Doctor, two identical ones, both with weirdly spiky hair, and one with a leather jacket. “I got to meet those three in person. But they’re all still the Doctor. And he’s going to regenerate again someday.” She reached up to actually brush her fingers over the man in the center of the front row. “This will be the last face that he’s going to wear. But I love all of them with all my heart, because they’re all the same person.”

Rory stared at Rose with wide eyes. Not only was the idea of being able to change faces absolutely bizarre, but that Rose could actually see and paint things that were supposed to be in the future. He wasn’t sure he would ever be able to understand Rose. Probably no one ever would- no one but the Doctor. 

That’s when he remembered what he was doing there in the first place, and he cleared his throat. “Rose, you told me when we first met that you loved the Doctor, right?”

“Still do,” she said, a slightly dreamy expression on her face. “He’s the most amazing man I’ve ever met- no offense, Rory.”

He laughed, and held his hands up. “None taken.” Then he got serious again. Rose still loved the Doctor, which meant that no matter how happy she was to have found him again, she’d be even happier if she could actually be with. “Were you two ever actually… together?”

Rose gave him a long look, and then nodded for him to follow her as she walked further into the studio, and over to a painting she was in the middle of. It was just the rough sketch outline at the moment, but it appeared to be the spiky haired Doctor wearing old fashioned looking clothing, standing next to a curly haired woman, not Rose, who was also wearing old fashioned clothing. 

She sat down on her stool and picked up the pencil she’d been using. “I’d like to think that we were,” she admitted. “But as brave as he was at times, he could also be an utter coward when it came to how he felt. He was afraid of getting closer to me only to outlive me, so he kept me at a bit of a distance. But even if the words were never said, at least not back then, not by the Time Lord version of him, I knew. And I was happy just to be able to travel with him, and to be able to hold his hand.” She sketched in a stern looking frown on the Doctor’s face. “He’s always been such a daft man, you know. The very first trip that he took me on, he took me to see the end of the Earth. But I have my own theories about why he did that. I can’t blame him for feeling alone. And then he took me home, and we went for chips, but I had to pay because he’s a cheapskate. I think of that as our first date.” Then she looked away from her art to give Rory a long look, and he did his best not to think about his and Amy’s plan (well, mostly Amy’s, but still). He didn’t think Rose could read minds or anything, but she had a certain way of just looking right through him. “What brought on these questions, anyways?”

Rory shrugged. He didn’t want to lie to his best friend, but he also didn’t want to tell her the complete truth. “It occurred to me that both of you are just so old- and looking great for your age, I promise- but… I don’t know. Something about the idea of a love that’s strong enough to last for hundreds of years seems so romantic. If Amy and I could live for that long, would we always love each other? Would we always want to be together?”

Rose gave him a knowing look, but didn’t make any indication that she knew otherwise. “Oh, Rory, love isn’t about how long you have to be together. It’s about how long you’re willing to give.” She set down her pencil, and then got up to walk over to the various jars of paints that were on a big shelf. She started gathering up a few of the colors that she would need. “Even before I knew that I was going to live for a very long time, I promised the Doctor that I was going to stay with him forever, at least my forever. Fifty, sixty, seventy years- that’s not much in the grand scheme of things, not to a Time Lord. But it’s all I thought I had, and I offered him all of it anyways.”

“So if you guys are so in love, why aren’t you together?”

Rose gave him a confused look. “We are. You think I would have given my TARDIS up for just anybody?”

Rory shook his head. “No, I mean like together, romantically. Like dating or married, or whatever aliens do to commit to one another.”

Rose quickly turned back to her easel, avoiding looking at Rory, and he immediately felt bad for upsetting her. She spoke before he could take it back, though, so he listened. “The Doctor’s not… not interested in me like that.”

“Did he tell you that?” Rory wouldn’t be all that surprised if the Doctor had accidentally implied such a thing while he was trying to bumble his way through a conversation about emotions.

But Rose shook her head, and Rory stared at her intently. “No. He said that he loves me. I don’t even know how long I waited to hear that from him. I mean, the human Doctor, he went by Jamie, and he told me how much he loved me all the time. To finally hear it from him was so… but it doesn’t matter. And if he knew- well. It doesn’t matter,” she repeated.

Rory reached out to put his hand on Rose’s shoulder. “You don’t have to talk to me, though I am here to listen if you ever need me to. But maybe you should try talking to the Doctor about how you feel?”

Rose reached up to pat Rory’s hand for a moment, and then gently leaned away from his touch. “Ah, I really need to finish this. Wouldn’t want to create any paradoxes now, would we?”

Rory wasn’t sure how a painting of a past Doctor could create a paradox, but he recognized the dismissal for what it was, and he nodded. “Alright. I should probably go find Amy, anyways. Just remember that I’m here if you need anything, okay?” 

,,,

The Doctor looked in bemusement at the note that had been slipped under his door. He quickly read it, and it claimed to be from Rose, though it was very clearly written in Amy’s hand, so the Doctor had no idea what was going on. The note asked him to meet in the observatory, and the Doctor decided to investigate.

The TARDIS brought him to the wardrobe instead of the observatory, and he knew that it was best to do what she wanted. His ship could certainly be a stubborn old thing. He rolled his eyes, but looked through the clothes that the TARDIS was clearly trying to push him towards. “Are you trying to get me killed? You know that nothing good ever happens when I wear this tux.” The TARDIS seemed uncaring of his struggles, and the Doctor sighed as he got changed. 

Then he was led straight to the observatory, and he carefully pushed the door open. He froze in the doorway to look ahead. Rose was in there, staring at the display of stars. It was, aptly enough, the Rose Nebula, which was beautiful, but the Doctor found that he couldn’t look away from the Rose human. 

He cleared his throat, and Rose slowly turned around. He’d never seen the dress she was wearing before, but he had to avoid choking up as he realized that the specific patterns on it showed it to be a Gallifreyan evening gown. Rose looked absolutely stunning in it, and the Doctor thought that he might drop dead right there after seeing the person who was home for him wearing a piece of his old home. 

Rose held up a note. “You look shocked. Am I right to assume that you didn’t write this?”

The Doctor strode forward and gently plucked the note out of Rose’s hand, enjoying the way her fingers brushed against his for just a moment. He skimmed it, and then shook his head. “My writing is not that messy,” he complained. “How could you even read this thing?”

Rose giggled as she took the note back, and tucked it away into some pocket that the Doctor couldn’t see. “Well, we’re both here, and there’s a lovely view out there. May as well enjoy it, right?”

The Doctor gulped, then nodded. “Right.” He thought that Rose Tyler just might be the death of him, though he found that he wouldn’t mind terribly if she was. He couldn’t possibly think of a more pleasant way to go. 

They stood there for a while, holding hands, while the Doctor pointed out various stars and constellations and told her about them. For the ones he didn’t know, he just made up stories, but somehow Rose could always tell which ones were real and which ones weren’t. She’d always been able to understand him so well. 

Even with his time sense, the Doctor lost track of time, enjoying himself far too much for him to ever want this to end. So when he heard the door open behind them, he wanted to curse whichever Pond had come to interrupt. But he could smell chips, and he knew that Rose could too, because she immediately perked up and turned around.

The door closed again just as they turned to look, and instead of a human waiting there to drag them off on an adventure, there was a tray on the floor that held two newspaper-lined baskets filled with steaming hot chips, and a small bottle of vinegar. Rose grinned at the Doctor, and he wondered how any one could possibly look so incredibly, wonderfully perfect. 

Rose grabbed the tray off chips off the floor, and the Doctor had to look away before he could do anything inappropriate. The TARDIS provided a couch for them- well, more of a loveseat- well, more of a stretched out armchair than anything. When they sat down, their thighs and arms pressed right up against each other, and the Doctor tried not to shiver at the delicious warmth that came from Rose’s body.

They ate chips, and even with grease on her lips, and a small streak of it on her forehead from when she’d reached up to push back her hair, she looked absolutely divine. And then she suddenly started laughing, and the Doctor wanted to preserve that sound so that he could listen to it over and over again until the end of time. “Doctor, we’ve been set up! The other day, Rory asked about our first date. And now it looks like they tried to recreate it!” Rose set the tray down on the floor, and then shifted around so that she could face the Doctor. She hesitantly reached up to touch the side of his face, and her eyelashes fluttered down, and oh Rassilon, how was the Doctor expected to ever survive this?

She leaned in closer, and the Doctor suddenly wanted nothing more in the entire universe than to just kiss Rose Tyler, possibly until he died of happiness. But then he remembered the facts that existed outside of his own bubble of happiness. He remembered everything that Rose had suffered through, and everyone that she’d lost, and how much her life had been ruined because he’d shown up in it. 

And he was so greedy for her, he already knew that if she gave him an inch, he’d want a thousand miles. He’d want to bond with her, even knowing how much she hated the idea of telepathy. And even if she was able to accept that much, it was such a permanent thing, and the Doctor couldn’t do that to her. Sure, she was much older than any human had the right to be, but she was still human, and she still had a human mindset. She wouldn’t be able to understand what a permanent bond would mean to two such long-lived individuals. The Doctor couldn’t do that to her. Or to himself. Sure, she wanted to be with him now, but what about in a hundred years? A thousand? More? Someday she’d want to leave him, just like everyone always did, only she wouldn’t be able to because of the bond, and she would hate him for it.

So the Doctor pulled away and leapt up to his feet before he could make such a big mistake. He knew that Rose was no fool, so he didn’t bother trying to make any lame excuses. He just gave her one long look, possibly the last one he’d ever be able to give her if she was upset enough to leave, and then he hurried off, hearts heavy with the weight of his own cowardice.

,,,

Amy and Rory high fived, confident that their plan was going to work, but then the door to the observatory banged open and the Doctor hurried off. They peered into the room, and saw Rose curled up on the tiny couch, face pressed into her knees, shoulders shaking. The married couple exchanged a look, and Rory walked over to Rose, while Amy hurried off after the Doctor. She was pretty sure that whatever had gone wrong, it was the Doctor’s fault. He could be such an idiot sometimes.

And clearly the TARDIS wanted to get in on the plan, because the ship led her straight to the Doctor. He was in his workshop, banging away at something with far too much force to possibly fix whatever was wrong with it. Amy crossed her arms over her chest, and cleared her throat. “Doctor? What-” She had intended on asking him what he’d done to make Rose cry, and then she saw that the Doctor’s eyes looked pretty red too, and she let out a sigh. “Doctor, you and Rose love each other, don’t you? So why do you have to overcomplicate it so much?”

The Doctor shrugged, and gave her a miserable looking smile. “We live complicated lives.”

“Only because you insist on making it that way.” She walked closer to the Doctor, and gave him a long look. “If Rose said that she wanted to leave the TARDIS right now because she’s afraid of hurting you, what you would say.”

“That’s different,” the Doctor scoffed. “And anyways, this is really none of your business.”

Amy rolled her eyes, and lightly punched the Doctor in the arm. “You’re my best friend, Raggedy Man. Whether you’re feeling up or down, it is my business. Come find me when you’re ready to talk.”

,,,

Rose and the Doctor had been awkwardly avoiding each other ever since their failed date, and Rory found himself wondering about the viability of just locking them both in a closet and leave them there until they were at least talking again. Because currently, the tension onboard the ship was getting to be too much. If Rory wasn’t so worried about what would happen if he left the two of them alone, he would have asked for him and Amy to get dropped off at home for a little while.

And of course that’s when River summoned them. Normally, Rory was rather fond of the eccentric woman, but right now, he knew that she was only going to cause problems between Rose and the Doctor, even if she didn’t mean to. As they landed the TARDIS at the coordinates that River had sent, Rose ushered the Doctor and Amy on ahead, and then turned to look at Rory. “I already know about River and who she is to the Doctor. Better than he does, even. I have no reason to be jealous.”

“Because you know that the Doctor loves you more than anything in the universe?” Rory asked hopefully.

Rose smiled as she shook her head. “Because he’s never made any promises to me. He has every right to be with whoever he wants. But that being said, unless things have changed drastically from my presence here, I don’t think that he’s in love with her. Now come on, before your wife starts to get worried.”

Rory laughed. “She wouldn’t. She trusts me, and knows that you could never think of anyone but the Doctor.” Then he immediately felt awkward for having said that, but he followed Rose outside of the TARDIS. 

River was laughing at something, and there was a puzzled look on the Doctor’s face- which was pretty par for the course when it came to those two. River glanced up at Rory and gave him a friendly nod, and then her eyes landed on Rose, and it was like River was looking at a ghost. She shuffled forward, ignoring the Doctor’s confusion, and stopped right in front of Rose, eyes wide. “How are you… what’s going on?” She glanced back at the Doctor, but he still looked confused, so River focused back on Rose. “You look exactly the same as I remember you. But I always thought that you were just a dream.”

Rose’s eyes flashed gold for a second, and then a warm smile spread across her face as she suddenly pulled River into a hug. Rory, Amy, and the Doctor all watched the interaction with absolutely no idea what was going on. When the two women finally pulled apart, Rose reached up to tuck aside a stray strand of River’s hair. “Oh, you’re all grown now,” she said in a voice full of fondness. “I always knew that you could do it. I’m only sorry that I wasn’t able to help more.”

River quickly shook her head. “Are you crazy? If it hadn’t been for you, I probably would have never…” she trailed off, glancing at the other three travelers. “Ah, but that’s all spoilers for them, isn’t it? Just- thank you, Rose. You saved me.”

Rose smiled. “What are friends for?”

The Doctor looked back and forth between the two women for a moment, before his eyes finally settled on Rose, just like they always seemed to. “You’ll tell me this story later, won’t you?”

“Spoilers,” both women reminded him simultaneously.

The Doctor looked ready to pout, and Amy looked ready to burst from the lack of answers, so Rory took it upon himself to get things moving. “So why did you ask us here, River?”

She suddenly clapped her hands together, a pleased grin on her face. “Ah, right, yes! You’ll never believe what I found! Come on!”

They ended up hiking for the better part of a day before reaching the top of a small mountain, where they were faced with a statue of a cranky looking old man, and a young woman. Rory narrowed his eyes as he thought that the man looked familiar, and then realized that he was one of the figures in Rose’s painting of all the Doctors. “I can’t believe you were ever so old,” he blurted out before he could think about it.

The Doctor looked over his shoulder at Rory with one eyebrow raised. “Oi, I’ll have you know that I was much younger back then, and still fighting fit- wait. How did you know that it was me?”

Rose laughed and pointed to the base of the statue. “I know you think all humans are primitive apes, but surely you understand that they are capable of reading.” There was a small plaque that read ‘Doctor and Susan’. The Doctor nodded and turned back to the statue, looking misty-eyed as he focused on the woman, presumably Susan. Rose glanced at Rory, and shook her head, though she looked too amused for him to believe that she was truly upset with him. Then he wondered if the Doctor knew that Rose knew about his past faces, let alone his future ones. 

“Doctor, who’s Susan?” Amy asked when no one else did. 

The Doctor smiled as he turned back to the rest of the group. “My granddaughter. If it wasn’t for her, I might not have ever rode off in my TARDIS, and I might never have become the man that I am today.” And even though things were clearly still awkward between them, Rose reached out to take one of the Doctor’s hands and give it a comforting squeeze. Rory liked to believe that it meant that there was still hope for them yet.

,,,

The five of them traveled to a planet where the laws dictated that every town needed to have at least one ball going on at all times, with a minimum of one hundred guests. Needless to say, it was a place that took their parties seriously. They were kicked out of one ball when the Doctor tripped and spilled water on the host, and they hurried off to a different town to try again.

Amy loved the feeling of getting dressed up, and of dancing around with Rory. Despite the locals not being humanoid, she was still pretty sure that at least a few were giving her jealous looks, and she couldn’t blame them. Rory was the best. The only thing that ruined the night was watching Rose stand off in one corner while the Doctor spun River around the room.

Eventually, she got fed up with it, and sent Rory off to fetch her a drink while she stormed her way over to the Doctor. She grabbed him by the arm and yanked him off of the dance floor, leaving a bemused River behind. “Doctor, why won’t you just dance with Rose?” He refused to look her in the eyes, and Amy put her hands on her hips. “No matter what hang ups you’ve got going on, can’t you see that you’re making her-” she cut herself off before she could say ‘miserable’. Not because she wanted to avoid hurting the Doctor’s feelings, but because she had a perfect view of River tugging Rose onto the dance floor, and the two of them began dancing all over the place, laughing and clearly enjoying themselves.

The Doctor turned to follow the line of Amy’s gaze, and she glanced up at him to see the way his expression immediately softened. He was clearly so very much in love, which is why it hurt so much to see him constantly pushing Rose away. Rose was an amazing woman, but even she had to have her limits, and if the Doctor kept pushing her, eventually she was going to listen to him, and just leave. 

Amy kept the Doctor company on the sidelines, and eventually Rory made his way over as well, and then the three of them watched as Rose and River appeared to be having the time of their lives. And then a handsome young human looking man walked right up to the two blondes, and held out his hand. Amy couldn’t hear what he said, but it was pretty obvious. There was a moment of hesitation, and then Rose took the man’s hand and let herself be led away to dance some more.

River looked around, and then spotted them, which was probably pretty easy since the Doctor was so tall, and she walked over to them. She was slightly out of breath, but was practically glowing. “Thanks for bringing us here, Doctor. I haven’t had this much fun in a while.” 

But all three of the humans seemed to notice at the same time that there was a dark look in the Doctor’s eyes, and he was clenching his hands into fists as he stared intently across the ballroom. “Sorry, I have to go do something,” he mumbled before storming his way across the ballroom floor. The humans watched the drama play out, and Amy briefly wondered if the Doctor would get mad if she ate popcorn while she watched the show. If she’d known that jealousy would get the Doctor’s butt in gear, then she would have tried that sooner. 

The Doctor tapped the other dancer on the shoulder, and as soon as the man looked at him, the Doctor was flashing the psychic paper and was speaking in that usual too-fast way of his. Before the Doctor even finished what he was saying, the man pulled himself away from Rose as if he’d just been burned by her. He said something, bowed his head, and then hurried away.

Amy waited to see what the result of that would be. It was a toss-up, honestly. Rose might get upset that the Doctor was interfering after already making it clear that he ‘wanted nothing to do with her’, or she might be happy to see that he cared. A tense moment passed by, and then Rose started cracking up. Amy hadn’t considered that straight up amusement would be an option, but she probably should have.

The Doctor was trying to speak, but Rose kept laughing, and when she finally stopped, she actually reached up to wipe away a tear. Then she gave the Doctor a light pat on the chest before grabbing his hands, a mischievous grin on her face. She dragged him right into the center of the room, and then waited a beat for the music to change. It turned into a fast, jazzy sounding bob, and her and the Doctor began whirling each other around.

Amy grinned, and pulled Rory out onto the dancefloor, but then paused and went back to pull River out as well. The three of them kept a little bit of distance from the Doctor and Rose, not wanting to interrupt the progress that was clearly happening between them. It was a fun time for all, and once they’d all danced just as much as they possibly could, a slow song came on, and Amy watched in delight as Rose cuddled up closer to the Doctor, and he wrapped his hands around her waist so that they could sway to the music together.

,,,

Rose finished her latest painting and gave a small nod of satisfaction as she looked it over. Once it was finished drying, she would have to put it on the shelf of other paintings that the TARDIS hid from the other time travelers. Even though Rose sometimes needed to get paintings done to express her feelings, the ones that contained too many spoilers had to remain safe. Especially the one of all the Doctor’s faces, no matter how proud Rose was of that one.

And the one she’d just finished also contained spoilers, and even though the Doctor probably wouldn’t understand, she didn’t want to risk messing anything up. She sighed as she looked at that gorgeous hair, and the grim look she’d painted on his face as he stood next to Elizabeth I. He really had not been pleased to have been kissed by her, and had gotten even more upset once he realized that he’d proposed to another woman when he was just a couple years away from seeing Rose again. Or he would be upset. 

Rose made her way over to the sink to scrub the splatters of paint off her hands, and then looked down at her smock. It was probably beyond saving at this point. It was lucky that the TARDIS loved her and would provide her with as many fresh smocks as she needed.

“Please correct me if I’m wrong, but is that supposed to be my previous regeneration alongside Elizabeth I? Are you forgetting how much she hates me?”

Rose wondered why the TARDIS would let him in when that painting was on display, but knew that the ship would never do anything to jeopardize the timelines. “Thought it would be funny, that’s all. After being chased out of the Globe by her troops and everything.”

The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows as he slowly took a few steps closer to Rose. “How do you know about that, anyways? I know you had plenty of time to learn about my adventures that involved Rory, but Martha would be beyond his scope.”

The question brought up old memories, of the human Jamie Tyler who had loved her and spent his forever with her. “Jamie- your human self- was my husband for a very long time. He literally was you, with just a few drops of Donna added, and one heart subtracted. He told me about all the things I missed out on.”

They were both silent for a moment, and then the Doctor cleared his throat. “Rose, I am terrified of what will happen if I let myself have what I want.”

Rose couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “And you think that I’m not? That’s why I told you that I couldn’t be with you in the first place, but you’re the one who couldn’t let me go. You said that you loved me and then you left me behind, again. I decided I was going to be selfish for once, but you’re too busy being so stupidly self-sacrificial for no damn reason. I am tougher than your average human, Doctor. I’m not going to break so easily, and I am going to live a long life. So there are no reasons left to justify you acting this way. If you don’t want me, then that’s fine, I understand, but you said that you loved me and then you just-” her voice broke, and she took in a shaky breath.

The Doctor leaned forward, but then hesitated for a moment before pulling Rose into a hug. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I swear that’s the last thing I’d ever want to do, and yet I just keep managing it over and over. But Rose, if you want me to be selfish, truly selfish, then it would be such a permanent decision. I don’t think you can understand-”

Rose pulled away just enough to look up and meet the Doctor’s eyes. “Doctor, I waited over a thousand years for you. And before that, I outlived my husband, my parents, my brother, my nieces and nephews, and the next few generations of Tylers, and waited around there for another few hundred years after that until I could get back here. I’m even older than you, Doctor. And you’re forgetting something else, too.” Her eyes flashed gold for a split second before going back to the normal warm brown. “I’ve seen more of Time than any Time Lord ever has. If anyone doesn’t understand how it works, then it’s you.” She took a deep breath, then slowly let it out before she pulled away from the Doctor entirely. “I know that this is more about you than it is about me, but still. It hurts to think that you don’t trust me. You don’t believe in me enough to think that when I say I want to stay, I actually mean it.”

The Doctor immediately shook his head. “No, you’re wrong! If there’s one thing I believe in, in this entire universe, it’s you. Please, Rose, please believe me.”

Rose looked away. “I can’t help but think that no matter what I do, you will always doubt me, deep down. You’re always going to believe that someday I’ll grow tired of you and want to leave you behind.”

The Doctor gulped, and then took a deep breath. He slowly reached out, and Rose let him take her hand. “There’s… there is one way. Rose, it would be beyond selfish of me to ask it of you, but I want it so badly.”

“Then just ask. There is nothing I wouldn’t give you, my Doctor.”

The Doctor closed his eyes as he spoke. “I- Gallifreyans, as a telepathic species, create marriage bonds. A telepathic connection in their heads so that they can always communicate, and get a general idea of what each other are feeling. It’s a precious, permanent thing, and Time Lords are not usually given the opportunity for one because they are put into arranged marriages that only exist by pairings of the most genetically compatible. But I’ve wanted a bond with you for so long, Rose Tyler.”

Rose stood up on her tiptoes to give the Doctor a gentle kiss, and then she settled flat on her feet again. “Doctor, I’ve been waiting for you to ask ever since New New York.” Then she pulled away, and gave the Doctor one of those tongue-touched grins that she knew he was so fond of. “You have to ask properly, though.”

It took him a moment to understand what she meant, and then he grinned as well. Still holding her hand, he knelt down to one knee, and clasped his other hand around hers as well. “Rose Marion Tyler, you absolutely fantastic, beautiful, wonderful being, would you do me the absolute honor of making me the happiest person in all of existence by making me your husband?”

Rose yanked him up to his feet, and she knew that she surprised him with her strength. “Sturdier than the average human, remember? And yes, I will make an honest man out of you.” Then she pulled him closer so that they could have a proper kiss, and she chose not to look at what could happen, because for now, she only cared about living in the moment.

,,,

Rory and Amy were in the kitchen making breakfast, and whispering amongst themselves as they waited for Rose and the Doctor to wake up. “What else did they do in that movie? This is a desperate situation, and we need to do something fast. They seemed pretty happy during the ball, but knowing them, they’ve already bungled it all up again.”

Rory shrugged. “I haven’t seen it in awhile. I never really got it, I guess. I mean what kind of parents would divorce each other and then separate their twin daughters and never tell them that they have a sister? What kind of judge would allow that? Americans have such weird ideas for films.”

Amy rolled her eyes at her husband’s lack of cooperation. “Well, we don’t need the help of American screenwriters to figure out how to get those two idiots to- oh.” She stared over Rory’s shoulder as the Doctor and Rose practically skipped into the kitchen, hand in hand. They both had mussed up hair, and Rose was definitely wearing the Doctor’s shirt. “Well, guess you two figured everything out then?”

Rose grinned and nodded. “Yeah, you could say that. You two are both invited to our wedding. Rory, will you be my best man?”

Rory grinned too. “Of course.”

Amy crossed her arms over her chest and cleared her throat. “I hope you haven’t forgotten about me.”

The Doctor hurried over to her to pull her into a sweeping hug, and then he let go, looking far too pleased with himself. “Best woman?”

Amy nodded. “I suppose that’ll do.”

“Oh, and River can give me away,” Rose added. “Don’t worry about why.” She turned to grin up at the Doctor, and she had the look of a woman who nothing could bring down. “Oh, my mum always said that her second wedding was just as good as the first, but in this case, the Doctor’s got a lot to live up to.”

“I am certainly looking forward to doing my best,” the Doctor said with a cheeky grin.

Rory looked back and forth between the two, and then turned to give Amy a kiss, just because he could. Honestly, two thousand years was a very long time to wait, but to be here in this moment, with his wife and his best friend and to see everybody happy, he knew without a doubt that it was worth it.


End file.
